


Let Nothing Break Us

by ishouldbeworkingrightnow (notjustalittlegirl)



Series: Close the Door On Your Way Out [2]
Category: Descendants (2015), The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Crying, F/M, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-07
Updated: 2017-08-07
Packaged: 2018-12-08 02:15:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11636859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notjustalittlegirl/pseuds/ishouldbeworkingrightnow
Summary: "Hey, Carlos," Jay put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Sorry about kicking you out of the room last night. You don't look like you slept very well.""I didn't."Jay raised his eyebrows, getting more and more confused at Carlos's reaction. This wasn't normal at all. Carlos wasn't answering him in his normal cheery tone, wasn't elaborating. Maybe Carlos was mad at him, but Jay hadn't thought that he was that angry. Carlos didn't get angry."Hey, dude, are you okay?"Carlos shrugged, and Jay frowned. It was obvious that his best friend was lying to his face, and that there was something going on that Carlos wasn't telling him.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The morning afterClose the Door On Your Way Out, Carlos's feelings come to light, leading to guilt and conversations.





	Let Nothing Break Us

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to [ Close the Door On Your Way Out](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11613354)  
> You should probably read that before you read this, or else it won't make very much sense.  
> Thanks to [ donovanpsn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/donovanpsn/pseuds/donovanpsn) , who gave me the idea and requested a sequel. I hope you like it!!!!  
> I do not own Descendants, Isle of the Lost, or the characters. I am making no money off this, and it is purely for entertainment purposes. Please don't sue me!

When Jay opened his eyes, he was both disappointed at being pulled out of one of the best dreams he'd had in quite a long while, and excited at the prospect of a new day with Evie. Last night... Last night had been fantastic. Evie was so beautiful, and so kind, and so wonderful, and he couldn't believe that she actually felt the same way about him as he did about her. Even two months after he had first taken her face in his hands and planted a kiss on her lips, he was worried each morning that this would be the day he finally realized it had been a dream. 

This morning, he wasn't quite as worried, because of the events of the previous night. His first time with Evie. There was nothing that could put a damper on his mood. 

On the bed next to his, Carlos was lying awake with his eyes fixed on a spot on the ceiling. When Jay looked a bit more closely, Carlos's eyes were unfocused and red, indicating that he was exhausted, and probably hadn't slept all night.

"Mornin' Carlos," said Jay brightly, feeling slightly guilty for keeping Carlos out of the room last night when he was with Evie. After they had finished, Jay had cuddled with Evie for as long as he could before they both realized she needed to return to her own room in order to let their friend get some sleep. The ajar door that they had noticed when Evie left probably signified the fact that Jay's roommate knew exactly what they were up to, and therefore had found somewhere else to stay until they were done.

"Good morning, Jay." 

Jay was slightly confused at Carlos's cool tone. Normally his friend was bright and cheery in the morning. Maybe he was annoyed at Jay because he hadn't gotten a lick of sleep last night. 

"Hey, Carlos," Jay put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Sorry about kicking you out of the room last night. You don't look like you slept very well." 

"I didn't."

Jay raised his eyebrows, getting more and more confused at Carlos's reaction. This wasn't normal at all. Carlos wasn't answering him in his normal cheery tone, wasn't elaborating. Maybe Carlos was mad at him, but Jay hadn't thought that he was  _that_ angry. Carlos didn't  _get_ angry. 

"Hey, dude, are you okay?" 

Carlos shrugged, and Jay frowned. It was obvious that his best friend was lying to his face, and that there was something going on that Carlos wasn't telling him. 

"Carlos." Jay plopped back down to sit on the bed and gestured for his friend to sit next to him. Carlos crossed his arms, but sat down on the mattress next to Jay, who wrapped an arm around his shoulder. He stiffened for a moment, and then his tense shoulders relaxed and he leaned into Jay.

"Carlos, what's wrong? I know there's something. Are you mad at me for having sex with Evie last night, because I'm sorry that I kicked you out of the room, I really am!" 

"S'okay," Carlos whispered, and Jay noticed a slight quiver in his voice. He had heard that quiver before. The last time was on the Isle, when he had come running to Jafar's Junk Shop after his mother had beaten him again. The quiver in his voice meant that Carlos was about to start crying. 

No sooner had Jay realized that his best friend was about to break down than Carlos was sniffling, and quickly sobbing, into his chest. Jay was confused as to what the hell was happening, but instead of asking he simply pulled Carlos closer and let him cry, just running a hand through the boy's short hair. When the sobs tapered off, Jay finally asked Carlos what was wrong.

Carlos took a deep breath, then words came flying out of his mouth so quickly that Jay almost couldn't understand them. He wished he wasn't able to understand them.

"I'm in love with you." 

Jay's ears buzzed. He couldn't possibly be hearing what he was hearing, Carlos couldn't possibly have just said that, couldn't possibly be  _in love with him._ Jay didn't say anything, just sat there, arm still around Carlos, and watched his best friend fall apart.

Carlos's face collapsed, and his lip began to quiver. His eyes watered and it was obvious that he was about to cry again, and just praying for Jay to say something. The son of Jafar couldn't find any words to try and comfort his friend. He could tell that his friend wanted to snuggle closer to him, allow Jay to find a way to comfort him, but was stopping himself.

"Carlos, I..." Jay trailed off, not knowing what else to say that wasn't a lie but wouldn't hurt Carlos even worse. There was nothing, and Carlos knew it. He knew that it had been a wild hope to think that maybe Jay would kiss him and tell him that he loved him back. Why would he, after all, when he had Evie?

Suddenly, Carlos shoved away and ran from the room. His first thought was to go find Mal in her room, but then he realized that Evie would be there too, and he didn't know if he could handle seeing the daughter of the Evil Queen right now. He didn't really have any other friends, except maybe Ben. So he turned the corner and ran towards the son of Belle's room.

He banged on the door, and Ben opened it right away. He looked slightly annoyed at first, but when he noticed Carlos's state his expression morphed into one of concern, and he beckoned him in, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and shushing him quietly.

* * *

It took Jay a few minutes to get off the bed.

He just kept seeing his best friend's tears, seeing Carlos crying and himself unable to do anything about it, since he was the cause. It was his fault that Carlos had run from the room sobbing, his fault because he didn't love his best friend the way Carlos loved him.

When he finally dragged himself off the bed, mind buzzing with guilt, he started walking to Evie and Mal's room. He hoped that wasn't where Carlos had decided to go- he didn't think so- because he wasn't ready to face his friend yet. When he knocked on the door, it was opened by Maleficent's daughter, who turned her head towards Evie and jerked her head, beckoning her best friend towards the door.

"Hey, Jay!" Evie's face lit up into a brilliant smile that made Jay's heart clench. Her smile slipped when she saw her boyfriend's face. "Are you okay, darling?"

"I..." He tried to speak but couldn't, and instead burst into tears. Evie cooed, and led him gently into the room, sitting down on her bed next to him and wrapping her arms around him. Mal heard the crying, there was no way she couldn't have, and awkwardly stood near the bed, trying to catch Evie's eye to see what, if anything, her friend wanted her to do.

Jay felt Evie shake her head, and Mal left the room, probably to go find Ben. When the door closed behind her, Jay lay down on Evie's bed, pulling her down with him. They wrapped their arms around each other, and Evie stroked Jay's hair until his crying faded away and he was ready to talk.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"Carlos is in love with me."

Saying it aloud made it more true, and Jay sniffled as Evie gasped lightly, wrapping her arms tighter around her boyfriend as if trying to make sure he wouldn't leave her and go running to Carlos. They were quiet for a few moments, before Evie broke the silence.

"Oh, no."

"Yeah," said Jay.

Evie chewed on her lip for another minute, then she asked, so quietly that Jay almost couldn't hear her, the question that Jay had hoped he wasn't going to have to answer, even if he knew the answer right away. "How do you feel about him?"

Jay pulled Evie close to his chest and kissed her forehead. "I love _you,_ Evie. Carlos is my friend, but I don't want to be with him in the way I want to be with you. You have nothing to worry about, baby."

Evie sighed in relief, laying her head on Jay's shoulder. "Oh, poor Carlos. What are we going to do?"

Jay held her closer, not ever wanting to let go. "I don't know, Evie. I don't know. I don't want Carlos to be sad, but there's no way I'm giving you up."

They didn't know what else to say, so simply lay together on the bed trying to forget the fact that Carlos was sad and they couldn't do anything to help him without giving each other up.

* * *

Carlos had cried so much this morning that he was hiccuping. Ben had done the best he could, rubbing Carlos's back and getting him glasses of water. He had asked him what was wrong, but hadn't waited until Carlos had finished crying to ask, so the younger boy had been trying to speak through his tears and ended up having a minor panic attack.

But, Carlos had been grateful for Ben's company and comfort nonetheless, and had been even more relieved when Mal had knocked on the door, talking about how Jay was crying in hers and Evie's room. When Carlos had finally stopped crying too hard to talk and told Ben and Mal what had happened, it hadn't taken long to piece together what was happening. When Carlos had heard that Jay was crying, he had started sniffling again, wishing that he was there comforting him.

Mal, Ben and Carlos had sat together for a while, just talking. The other two had tried to distract Carlos, simply by blabbering with their arms around his shoulders. It was Mal, of course, who finally stood up, pulling Carlos with her, and walked towards the door. "C'mon, Carlos. Let's go back to my room. You and Jay need to talk."

Carlos whimpered and tried to protest, but Mal simply dragged him along with Ben lagging behind, emotional support for Carlos. She shoved the door open, and Carlos closed his eyes and tried to break her grip when he saw Jay and Evie kissing on the bed. When Mal didn't let go, Carlos opened his eyes to find that his two friends had sat up and were looking down at the sheets, faces full of guilt. There were obvious tears glittering in Jay's eyes, and Evie's lip was trembling.

"Talk." Mal's voice offered no room for argument, but she moved her hand from Carlos's upper arm to his shoulder, squeezing it supportively. Ben stood at his other side.

"I'm sorry," whispered Carlos. "I didn't mean to fall in love with you, Jay. And Evie, I... I'm not trying to take him away from you, I'm glad you're happy. It's okay, don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

Evie jumped up off the bed and rushed over to Carlos, throwing her arms around him. "I'm so sorry, Carlos! I don't know what to say, I love Jay, if that makes you feel any better."

Carlos wasn't crying, he wasn't sure there was enough moisture in his body to cry anymore, but he was still hiccuping. "I know, Evie. If he doesn't want to be with me, I'm glad he's with you."

She sniffled and squeezed him. Then, Jay stepped up off the bed and walked carefully towards his friend. Carlos flinched away from him and back into Ben. Jay stopped, closing his eyes in pain. He didn't want his friend to be afraid of him, or sad because of him.

Ben squeezed Carlos's shoulder again, and met Jay's eyes. "Do you two want to talk alone?"

Carlos shook his head while Jay nodded. "Okay," Ben thought aloud. "How about Mal stays with Evie and I'll go with Jay and Carlos." Mal growled, not wanting to be left out, but agreed, as did Jay and Carlos. The door closed behind them, and Evie flopped back down on the bed, burying her face in her pillow.

"God dammit. I didn't want it to be like this." Mal plopped down on the bed next to her, and the two girls sat together and waited.

* * *

 "I'm sorry." 

Carlos's voice was quiet, and the broken apology almost broke Jay's heart. He wanted to wrap his arms around his friend, but Ben's protective stance stopped him. He clenched his fists and bit his lip, knowing that his friend was expecting him to speak next.

"No, Carlos. _I'm_ sorry. I don't want you to be sad over me. I'm not worth it, and I wish I could love you the way you love me, but I love Evie and she loves me. I'm so sorry, and I don't want us to stop being friends! I... I'm not sure that I could handle that."

"We're not going to stop being friends, Jay, unless you want to. I'll get over it. And, if I don't, then I'll deal with it. I'll be fine. Really."

Jay could tell that Carlos wasn't completely telling the truth, but he decided not to press.

"Still," he said instead. "I'm sorry. You're great, _fantastic,_ and I promise you'll find someone."

Carlos laughed dryly, but nodded. "Thanks, Jay."

"Okay!" Ben clapped awkwardly, seemingly slightly regretful of his decision to mediate this conversation which had turned out to not need mediating. "Shall I go tell the girls that everything's alright?" 

Jay and Carlos both nodded. "Thanks, Ben," said Carlos, and gave his friend a hug. When he left the room, Carlos and Jay looked at each other for a moment, before they both jumped off their beds and pulled each other into a hug in the center of the room.

They were, after all, best friends.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Again, if you haven't read Close the Door On Your Way Out, that can be found [ here.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11613354)


End file.
